San Mateo County: New Repellent Discovery
Entomology Report February 2009, San Mateo County Mosquito and Vector Control District
Chemist Aijun Zhang, of the USDA, along with collaborators from Nanjing Foresty University in China and the US Army Medical Department Center and School, discovered a compound in the South American Tauroniro tree that is as effective as DEET at repelling mosquitoes and ticks. Tests were performed on two mosquito species (Aedes aegypti, and Anopheles stephensi), and two ticks, (Ixodes scapularis and Amblyomma americanum). The new compound is more repellant than DEET to mosquitoes. For ticks, the new compound’s repellency is equal to that of DEET.The repellent compound, isoflongifolenone, is already a component of several commercial products, including cosmetics, fragrances, deodorants and some paper. Because of its widespread use, it is presumed to be safer than DEET, which is not recommended to be worn under clothes, around broken skin, near eyes or mouth, and should be used in lower concentrations on children. The study authors have devised a way of inexpensively synthesizing the compound from turpentine feed stock. Some previously discovered natural compounds with insect repellent qualities haven’t become widely available because of the high cost of producing them. The study is available in the January 2009 issue of the Journal of Medical Entomology.
Here is the journal article:
Authors: Zhang, Aijun; Klun, Jerome A.; Wang, Shifa; Carroll, John F.; Debboun, Mustapha
Source: Journal of Medical Entomology, Volume 46, Number 1, January 2009 , pp. 100-106(7)
